Printed in Matagorda County
Genealogical Society Quarterly,Oak Leaves, February 2002

By Jan Aikens - The Daily Tribune,
February 26, 1986

HUDGINS SETTLEMENT—Matilda Scott has
spent over 90 years of her life caring for other people. She was
born Aug. 5, 1884, to Andrew and Rebecca Taylor in Matagorda County
in a small community called Hudgins Settlement. Her mother died when
she was seven and she assumed the responsibility of caring for her
younger brother and sister. Later, her father went blind and she had
to care for him, too. When she was older, she cared for her cousin's
two children when she died when they were young.

"One day when I was holding and
comforting my little sister, my father told me that I would live a
long time, perhaps, longer than the child that she was holding.
Today, I am the only surviving member of my immediate family," said
the 101-year-old woman.

Mrs. Scott's grandparents were
landowners in Africa, but were captured and brought to America as
slaves. Her parents were born during slavery time, but were not
slaves, she said.

She attended Warren School through
the seventh grade before having to quit to take care of her younger
siblings.

Farming has been Mrs. Scott's life.
Her son, Jimmy Scott, said he remembers watching his mother walk
behind a plow in the fields. The family raised cotton, corn and
sugar cane and also had some chickens and cattle.

"She used to like to fish," said her
son, Jimmy. "I remember watching her take cotton and meal and put it
on a hook and fish for buffalo fish."

When the Hudgins Settlement was
plotted, it had 231 acres. All of those acres are still in the
family's possession and Mrs. Scott resides with her daughter, Josie
Green, and son and wife, Willie and Evelina Davis, on that land.

When Mrs. Scott wasn't farming, she
spent a lot of time at Pleasant Green Baptist Church where she has
been an active member all of her life. She taught Sunday school and
did missionary work. She was also a treasurer of the church.

Married three times, Mrs. Scott has
outlived all of her husbands. In addition to Josie and Jimmy, who
are twins, and Willie, she has another son, Cody Harkless, and
numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

What does Mrs. Scott do to pass the
time? "I watch TV and enjoy my grandchildren and
great-grandchildren," she said proudly.

The Daily Tribune,
March 1987:

SCOTT

Funeral services for Matilda Scott,
102, of Bay City will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at First Sacred
Memorial Christian Church, Bay City, with the Rev. H. S. Williams
officiating. Burial will be in Hudgins Settlement Cemetery, Cedar
Lane.

Visitation will be until 9
p.m. today at Duncan-Roberts Funeral Home and from noon to 1 p.m.
Saturday at the church.

Mrs. Scott was born Aug.
5, 1884, in Hudgins Settlement, Texas, to Andrew and Rebecca Hudgins
Taylor and died March 25, 1987, at her home.